Rampage [2018] ★★½

It wasn’t until I spotted an arcade cabinet that has “Rampage” written all over it that I realized that this movie is indeed based on the famous 1980’s game, in which giant monsters are trying to destroy an entire city. The game was fun and straightforward, and the movie is exactly like that. It doesn’t beat around the bush nor does it pretend to be anything more than a popcorn film. It’s exactly what it is: an entertaining, big-budget monster film that delivers the goods. Dwayne Johnson plays the same guy you’ve seen in every film starring Dwayne Johnson, except he’s a Primatologist here who spends most of his time training animals. His best friend? A harmless gorilla named George. Then a failed experiment happens, as it should, and George, along with other animals, mutate into raging creatures of enormous size. Sounds familiar? It is. But somehow, it all works. The visual effects are spectacular (even more in IMAX), as is George himself, who steals every scene in the movie. I could complain about the predictability of the plot, but you don’t walk in to see a movie starring Dwayne Johnson expecting plot twists. “Rampage” promises a fun time filled with action scenes and eye-popping special effects, and it delivers, even if we’ve seen it all before.